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Ron Nachman

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Over its 25 years, hip-hop has created some durable identities including thug, playa, activist, and straight-up cool cat. But with most rhymers fancying themselves big-ballers in every hater's gun sights, riding on 20-inch rims with a hottie in th...

For more than a decade now, hip-hop has struggled to reconcile its "hustla" and activist sides. During much of that time, the music has fostered a simmering ideological tension between outlaw "me first"-ism and communitarian selflessness. Like KRS...

For about a decade, European electronica artists like Jazzanova and Les Gammas have mined Latin American records for punchy rhythms and melodies to heat up their tunes. Under the alias Sidestepper, British producer Richard Blair comes straight fro...

As we all know, the "blond MC" issue in hip-hop has gotten a little ponderous. So, an announcement: To all you indie boys who disown Eminem's objectionable (or objectionably lousy) lyrical themes but defend his supposed "skills," you now have an o...

For much of the '90s, Germany's left-field techno scene projected a gray face to electronica's global audience, as po-faced Berlin outfits like Basic Channel and Pole mercifully contrasted the Clinton era's raging humanism with a shadowy brand of ...

Since the early '90s when it was called jungle, drum 'n' bass has reflected young marginalized peoples' desire to mutate audio culture through technology. Bored with safe reggae, R&B, and hip-hop heard on the radio, London's restless young inner-c...